MARINA DEL REY, CA -- The crusade for campaign finance reform is a perverse exercise in blaming the victim, said an Ayn Rand Institute senior writer.
     "According to campaign finance reform proponents, politicians are constantly in danger of being corrupted by business 'fat cats,'" said Robert W. Tracinski. "But portraying businessmen as corrupt influence-peddlers makes them scapegoats for the real villains: politicians who want to tamper with business."
     Tracinski explained that today's mixed economy, in which the government has the power to regulate and control business, has caused businessmen to curry political favor in self-defense against the crippling power of government's maze of taxes, subsidies and regulations.
     "In the present system, the only way businessmen can survive is by seeking to influence the political process," Tracinski said. "However, in a fully capitalist economy the government is legally separate from and unable to regulate business, so the businessman would have no need to court political favor. There would be no danger of business 'corrupting' politics because political considerations would have no bearing on business practices."
     Tracinski noted that the current campaign reform proposals, particularly the popular $1,000 per donor limit on contributions, would force businessmen out of the political arena, leaving them defenseless before populist politicians.
     "Ultimately, the only real solution to campaign financing is not the expansion of government power over business, but limiting the power of the politicians by returning to a system of laissez-faire capitalism," said Tracinski.